What's on Amazon Prime Video?

Dani Warner

25 September 2017

Although most people probably sign up for Amazon Prime for the free shipping rather than the streaming content, the site offers a wide variety of TV series and films through Prime Video. If you’re on the fence about signing up for Prime, this guide should help you determine if it’s the right streaming service for you.

For a while, Amazon Prime Video was seen as just a perk to signing up for a year of Amazon Prime. After investing in original, high-quality content and obtaining exclusive rights to overseas series, however, Amazon Prime Video’s reputation has grown.

Now, with a catalogue of roughly 14,000 films and TV series available — significantly larger than Netflix’s offering — Amazon Prime Video is a much stronger selling point to sign up for an annual Prime membership.

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Do I have to sign up for a year of Amazon Prime?

Some people balk at the annual subscription price for Amazon Prime, but you don't have to sign up for a yearly membership if you're only after one or two series.

Amazon offers two types of monthly subscriptions: One for Amazon Prime as a whole, and a monthly subscription to Amazon Prime Video that's priced similarly to Netflix. If you sign up for just Prime Video, you won't get access to the extras that you get with an annual membership — which we'll cover later on in the guide — and if you continue to subscribe to Prime on a monthly basis, you'll spend more money than if you signed up for an annual membership.

The monthly price is a good way to trial the service, though, and see if you're interested in any more of their series or films. Amazon also offers 30-day free trials for Prime, too.

Amazon Prime original series

While Amazon Prime can’t beat Netflix’s original content by sheer numbers, the company has been focusing on quality over quantity by creating critically-acclaimed programming with big names.

Currently, Amazon Originals available on Amazon Prime include:

The Grand Tour

Transparent

Mozart in the Jungle

Goliath

Bosch

The Man in the High Castle

Sneaky Pete

Ripper Street

Z: The Beginning of Everything

The New Yorker Presents

The Collection

The Tick

Red Oaks

One Mississippi

Eat the World with Emeril Lagasse

Hand of God

Amazon has also announced future series with Matthew Weiner — the creator of Mad Men — and acclaimed director David O. Russell, as well as a programme based on Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels.

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TV programmes on Amazon Prime

Outside of Amazon Originals and Exclusives, Amazon Prime has a number of TV series available from the UK and overseas. Although content is always changing, the following series are available on Amazon Prime:

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Films on Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime has a vast collection of films spanning across all genres. From classics to blockbusters, you’ll find a wide selection of movies to watch on Amazon Prime.

Again, what’s available on Amazon Prime changes frequently, so there’s no guarantee that the specific movie you want will be included in your Prime membership. Before signing up, you can have a search through Amazon's catalogue of films to see what's available.

Amazon Prime: Not just a streaming service

Unlike its rivals, Amazon Prime is a lot more than just a streaming service.

If you can’t find anything to watch on Prime, you can easily access Amazon’s full store and purchase individual TV box sets — or even standalone episodes — or films to watch immediately. With Netflix, you can’t buy any content, and NOW TV requires you to opt into an entire TV pass instead of buying content ala carte.

The biggest draw of Amazon Prime is arguably its original perk: Free one-day shipping from Amazon.

Other things included with Amazon Prime membership include:

Prime Music: Similar to Amazon Prime Video, Prime Music lets you stream a selection of music for free with the ability to purchase songs or albums whenever you want. You can also upgrade your Prime Music membership to access more songs.

Twitch Prime: Twitch is a video game streaming service that was purchase by Amazon. If you’re a Prime subscriber, you get certain ‘premium’ features, such as ad-free streaming.

Prime Photos: With Prime, you can access unlimited cloud storage from Amazon for all of your photos.

Kindle owners’ Lending Library: If you have a Kindle, you can borrow one Kindle eBook per month for free.

Prime early access: Prime members always get early access to Amazon’s Lightning Deals.

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